Malaysiakini :COMMENT | The video clip which came via a WhatsApp chat group on Tuesday was initially met with scepticism. Why would a top politician implicate other leaders by making such accusations?

Could it be one of the many fake videos on social media? Could someone have spliced or edited the clip? With modern technology, anything is a possibility – was this the case?

But when the clip was uploaded on YouTube and when Malaysiakini provided the link with comments, all these possibilities were quickly dismissed.

But Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s insinuation that BN leaders could face criminal trials if their coalition loses the next general election, was more than an indictment.

What are the implications of the statement “If we fail, our fate will be worse than the last election.” Read in totality, it can mean that more crooked leaders could go to jail or the current leaders will end up as nobody on the streets and treated as outcasts. 

This is a cruel and crude admission of sorts of the quality of some leaders. Their integrity was exposed and torn to bits in front of a large audience and recorded for archiving in perpetuity.

Wasn’t this casting aspersions on the entire system – enforcement agencies, the public prosecutors and the judiciary? What the MACC has to say about the names on the list? Why haven’t those fingered in the speech responded? After all, the visuals show at least three of them. Maybe they remained silent in deference to their leader and saying anything or protesting would have serious consequences including being not fielded in the forthcoming general election.